1 Under the tree

She sat under the tree looking at the sky as it changed colour- the transition from day to night- as she captured it all in her camera hoping to make a time lapse video.

A buzzing next to her broke her concentration. It was an alarm she had set on her phone, to go pick her Aunt Thelma from the bus station.

Aunt Thelma was older than she looked and wiser than she acted. She knew the way home but Purity insisted on meeting het at the bus stop and walking her home.

She looked around after turning off her alarm as if sensing a presence around her, she had been feeling this way for two consecutive weeks. Actually, it started on her birthday when she began feeling the presence of someone but whenever she looked around nobody was there.

Today the presence felt stronger but she brushed it off as anxiety or paranoia. Stopping the video from recording, she stood up and dusted herself before slinging her camera bag on her shoulder and going down the hill like Jack and Jill.

It took her ten minutes to get to the bus stop where she found other people waiting, probably to board a bus or meet someone. As she walked to the shed at the bus stop, she felt nervous as people looked at her. People always looked at her because of her skin and hair.

She was unique. She looked African because of her figure, Caucasian because of her eyes and Asian because of her skin colour. Her mother was Asian with African American roots, her father was Asian too but his paternal grandparents were African American and his maternal grandparents were Asian American. All that made Purity who she was and people made fun of her. Being called Purity yet she did not have a particular pure race.

That however did not cancel the fact that she was very beautiful and turned heads everywhere she went.

A slight chill landed on her shoulders and went down her back when the night breeze blew causing goosebumps to erupt across her shoulder. She reached for the strap of her bag where she tied her scarf when she felt someone watch her, the presence since her birthday. Raising her head to look around, she obviously sees nothing.

For some odd reason she starts feeling warm and decides not to undo her scarf.

"Aunt Thelma," she squeals when her aunt gets off the bus.

"I told you that I could make it on my own," her aunt scolds but Purity ignores her scolding as she is happy.

Maybe it's those objects we see in our vision, but Purity was sure she saw something move and her tenseness does not go unnoticed by her aunt who opts to say nothing.

Their home is close to the road so they do not walk for long before arriving and being welcomed by a loud family.

Purity still feels the presence and when shutting the door behind her she looks around to confirm that nobody and nothing is out there.

"Are we expecting someone?" Aunt Thelma says scaring Purity at how fast she got there.

"Nobody, I'm just checking..." Purity replies and finally shuts the door before heading to the living room where the life is.

Supper was a feast, but when is supper not a feast in this household? Her parents liked cooking huge meals that consisted of all parts of their heritage and nobody was picky with food in their house. Not even Venus her younger sister who had this "diet" going on.

There was something about washing dishes that Purity loved. Nobody liked doing the dishes but her. Even with a dishwashing machine, Purity liked washing dishes manually. So when everyone retired to bed, she would be in the kitchen humming a song as she washed the dishes.

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